Lappula marginata (M. Bieberstein) Gürke var. granu-lata Krylov, Fl. Zap./West Sib. 9: 2248. 1937; L. gansuensis X. D. Wang & C. J. Wang; L. platyacantha W. T. Wang ex C. J. Wang.

Herbs annual. Stems erect, branched above, 30-50 cm tall, spreading or subappressed gray pilose. Basal leaves forming a rosette; leaf blade oblong, 2-7 cm × 3-8 mm, spreading or slightly spreading gray hispid, hairs discoid at base, base attenuate, margin entire, apex obtuse; stem leaves sessile, shorter, narrower. Inflorescences widely spaced, strongly elongated in fruit; bracts linear, longer than fruit on lower part of inflorescences. Pedicel erect, elongated in fruit, 3-5 mm on lower part of inflorescence, stout above, thin at base; pubescent. Calyx lobes erect at anthesis, often spreading in fruit, linear, 2-3 mm, to 5 mm in fruit. Corolla light blue, campanulate, 3-3.5 mm; throat white or light yellow, appendages trapeziform; limb 2-4 mm wide. Style not surpassing upper prickles of nutlets. Nutlets ovoid, 3-3.5 mm, adaxially tuberculate; disc oblong-lanceolate, finely tuberculate; marginal glochids in 2 rows; inner glochids yellow, 1.5-2 mm, bases expanded and confluent into a narrow wing; outer glochids 0.5-1 mm, usually only on lower part. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.

The fruit are used as an antiphlogistic and insecticide in NE China.

Meadows, hillsides, fields on loess plateau, margins of cultivated land. Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi [Kazakhstan, Mongolia]